Carlos Daniel López Huesca (born 12 June 1990), commonly known as Carlitos, is a Spanish professional footballer who plays as a

forward Forward is a relative direction, the opposite of backward. Forward may also refer to: People * Forward (surname) Sports * Forward (association football) * Forward (basketball), including: ** Point forward ** Power forward (basketball) ** Sm ...

for Kazakhstan Premier League club Astana. Having played no higher than

Segunda División B Segunda División B ( en, Second Division B) was the third tier of the Spanish football league system containing 102 teams divided into five groups, until it was replaced by the new structure in 2021. It was administered by the Royal Spanish Foot ...

in his own country, he spent most of his career abroad, with spells in Russia, Cyprus, Poland, the United Arab Emirates and Greece. He was the top scorer of the

2017–18 Ekstraklasa The 2017–18 Ekstraklasa was the 92nd season of the Polish Football Championship, the 84th season of the highest tier domestic division in the Polish football league system since its establishment in 1927 and the 10th season of the Ekstraklasa ...

with 24 goals for Wisła Kraków.

Career

Early years

Carlitos was born in

Alicante Alicante ( ca-valencia, Alacant) is a city and municipality in the Valencian Community, Spain. It is the capital of the province of Alicante and a historic Mediterranean port. The population of the city was 337,482 , the second-largest in th ...

, Valencian Community. He played youth football for a number of clubs, and made his debut as a senior in Tercera División, with

Torrellano Illice CF Torrellano Illice Elche Parque Empresarial Club de Fútbol, known as Torrellano Illice, was a Spanish football team based in Torrellano, Elche, in the Valencian Community. Founded in 2009 and dissolved in 2011, it held home games at ''Polideporti ...

. Carlitos spent the 2011–12 season with neighbouring

Ontinyent CF Ontinyent Club de Fútbol was a Spanish football team based in Ontinyent, in the autonomous community of Valencia. Founded in 1947 it held home games at ''Estadio El Clariano'', with a capacity of 5,000 seats. On 28 March 2019, due to economic pr ...

, in

. In the summer of 2012 he moved abroad, going on to make his first appearances as a professional with FC Petrotrest Saint Petersburg in the National League of Russia. In January 2015, as he was top scorer with fourth-tier side Novelda CF, Carlitos joined

Aris Limassol FC Aris Limassol (Greek: ''Άρης Λεμεσού'') is a Cypriot football club based in Limassol and one of the founder members of Cyprus Football Association. The club's colours are green, black and white, and their home is the Tsirion Stadium ...

in the Cypriot Second Division. In the summer, after helping to promotion, he returned to his country and signed for CD Eldense.

Wisła Kraków

On 22 June 2017, Carlitos left Villarreal CF B and moved to Polish club Wisła Kraków. In his first season in the Ekstraklasa, he won the Player of the Season as well as the Striker of the Season awards after finishing top scorer with 24 goals in 36 matches. This tally included a brace in a 2–1 home win in the local derby against

KS Cracovia {{Short description, Sports club based in Kraków Cracovia is a multi-sports club in Kraków, Poland. Its teams include: *MKS Cracovia Miejski Klub Sportowy Cracovia Sportowa Spółka Akcyjna, commonly known simply as MKS Cracovia or Cracovia ...

on 12 August, a hat-trick on 9 March 2018 against Śląsk Wrocław and a penalty nine days later in a 2–0 victory at

Legia Warsaw Legia Warszawa (), commonly referred to as Legia Warsaw or simply Legia, is a professional football club based in Warsaw, Poland. Legia is the most successful Polish football club in history, winning record 15 Ekstraklasa champions titles, a ...

; this was his team's first in the city in eight years.

Legia Warsaw

In the summer of 2018, Carlitos was linked with a move away from cash-strapped Wisła to

Lech Poznań Kolejowy Klub Sportowy Lech Poznań S.A., commonly referred to as KKS Lech Poznań or simply Lech Poznań (), is a Polish professional association football, football club based in Poznań and currently competing in the Ekstraklasa, the nation' ...

, before joining Legia on 5 July. He made his debut nine days later in the

Super Cup A super cup is a competition, usually but not exclusively in association football, which often forms the 'curtain raiser' to a season, and typically involves only two teams who have qualified through success in other competitions during the prev ...

, coming on as a 57th-minute substitute for

Miroslav Radović Miroslav Radović (; born 16 January 1984) is a Serbian former footballer who played as a winger. Radović started his career with Partizan, before joining Polish club Legia Warsaw in the summer of 2006. He acquired Polish citizenship in Janua ...

in a 3–2 home defeat to Arka Gdynia. On 17 July he played the first European game of his career, coming off the bench to conclude a 3–0 win (4–0 aggregate) over Cork City in the first qualifying round of the UEFA Champions League. Carlitos was the league season's joint third top scorer with 16 for the runners-up. This included two on 21 October in a 3–3 draw when his former team visited the Stadion Wojska Polskiego.

Panathinaikos

On 9 September 2019, Carlitos joined the UAE Pro League's Al Wahda FC for €1.8 million. On 28 January 2020, he signed a three-and-a-half-year contract with Panathinaikos F.C. for an undisclosed fee. His first

Super League Greece The Super League Greece 1 ( el, Ελληνική Σούπερ Λιγκ 1), or Super League 1, is the highest professional association football league in Greece. The league was formed on 16 July 2006 and replaced ''Alpha Ethniki'' at the top of ...

goal came in a 2–2 away draw against

OFI Crete F.C. OFI Crete Football Club ( el, ΠΑΕ Όμιλος Φιλάθλων Ηρακλείου 1925, ''Club of Fans of Heraklion 1925''), is a Greek professional Association football, football club based in Heraklion, on the island of Crete. It is a par ...

on 18 October. The following weekend, he missed a penalty seconds before scoring through a header in the 1–1 home draw to Volos FC. Carlitos scored a hat-trick on 16 October 2021 in a 4–1 home win over

Ionikos FC Ionikos Football Club ( el, ΠΑΕ Ιωνικός) or Ionikos Nikaia is a Greek professional football club based in Nikaia, Piraeus, Greece, currently competing in the Super League Greece, the top-tier of the Greek football league system. Fr ...

, becoming the first player since Marcus Berg in 2017 to achieve this feat for the club.

Return to Legia

On 16 August 2022, after again being linked with their archrivals Lech Poznań, Carlitos returned to Legia Warsaw on a two-year deal. In July 2023, he left by mutual consent.

Personal life

Carlitos' younger brother, Rubén, is also a footballer. He too played in Kraków, but for Wisła's rivals Cracovia.

Career statistics

Honours

Legia Warszawa * Ekstraklasa: 2019–20 * Polish Cup:

2022–23 The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen b ...

Panathinaikos * Greek Cup: 2021–22 Individual *Ekstraklasa Player of the Season: 2017–18 *Ekstraklasa Forward of the Season: 2017–18 *Ekstraklasa top scorer: 2017–18 (24 goals)

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Carlitos 1990 births Living people Spanish men's footballers Footballers from Alicante Men's association football forwards Segunda División B players Tercera División players Ontinyent CF players CF Fuenlabrada footballers Novelda CF players CD Eldense footballers Villarreal CF B players Russian First League players FC Petrotrest players Cypriot Second Division players Aris Limassol FC players Ekstraklasa players Wisła Kraków players Legia Warsaw players UAE Pro League players Al Wahda FC players Super League Greece players Panathinaikos F.C. players PAS Lamia 1964 players Spanish expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Russia Expatriate men's footballers in Cyprus Expatriate men's footballers in Poland Expatriate men's footballers in the United Arab Emirates Expatriate men's footballers in Greece Spanish expatriate sportspeople in Russia Spanish expatriate sportspeople in Cyprus Spanish expatriate sportspeople in Poland Spanish expatriate sportspeople in the United Arab Emirates Spanish expatriate sportspeople in Greece